Fraudsters posing as police officers have conned Hertfordshire pensioners out of more than 100k within just over two weeks.

Among the victims was a woman in her 90s from Letchworth who lost £63,000 following a bogus phone call from a ‘detective from Hammersmith Police’.

The con has sparked Hertfordshire Constabulary into warning residents to be wary of people contacting them claiming to be police investigating fraudulent activity on their bank accounts.

Senior Beacon Fraud Hub Manager, Elaine Crate, said: “This is one of the most common scams and the fraudsters tend to target older residents, all of those targeted over the last week were aged 70 or over. If you have elderly or vulnerable friends or relatives speak to them about this scam so they aren’t fooled.

“Fraudsters use different stories to convince people they are genuine. The important thing to remember is that police officers or bank staff would never ask for people’s bank details, like a PIN, or for cash to be handed over.”

She warned that the fraudsters can be “very persuasive and insistent”, but urged people to never give bank details to anyone after large amounts of money were stolen this month.

It comes amid Herts Police also warning of a spike in WhatsApp scams doing the rounds in Hertfordshire. It involves frauds linked to verification on the platform – which sees criminals then posing as members of groups users are in.

More information on how to avoid these scams can be found on the Herts Police website.